Montane Grizedale Trail 26 - Review
Montane
Grizedale Trail 26: Feb 3rd
Location:
Grizedale Forest, Cumbria
Length:
Marathon – 26miles
Elevation:
~3000ft
Paths: Fire
Roads, Single track, field paths, forest paths
My marathon
debut took place in Grizedale forest at the Epic Events
Montane Grizedale Trail 26 at the beginning of February. When I signed up in at the end of 2018, I knew it
would be an interesting gamble with the weather. Sure enough, defrosting the
car on the morning of the race at 7:15 in my ¾ length leggings was not the one. Arriving
at the forest car park the car was showing -3C and waiting on the start line we
were all begging the officials to let us get under way just to get some warmth
into us.
We were
warned of snow and ice out on the trails and to take to the grass when
necessary. I didn’t think we’d be doing that just a couple of hundred yards
from the starting gantry but it was the only course we could take as the horde
split like the Red Sea either side of the ice caked track. One guy was foolish
enough to try and tackle the ice wall and hit the deck within sight of the
start line.
The horde
snaked its way up the snowy fire roads up onto Parkamoor where I finally
regained some heat in my fingers and quipped with a fellow runner that the
“gloves were now off”. Sadly the cloud was down and we couldn’t see much of the
Coniston fells up on the top of the moor but soon we were onto a fantastic
section of single track, where if you were to stretch out your arms on either
side they would be immersed in the forest. It wasn’t long before we were back
out onto the fast flowing fire roads, I teamed up with a guy called Paul who
was pacing me really well. We had some good chats about upcoming races and he
was a really good motivator for me. In hindsight I was going too fast but still
it was nice to have company out there. We blasted our way through the first
drink stop and just continued to the second at the half way mark. We descend
along those rapid fire road through the snow glistened forest watching out for
ice patches all along the way and before we knew it Paul and I were back at the
visitors centre finishing our first loop.
Paul, a
veteran of the Grizedale trail marathon had warned me that the second loop was
going to be tougher than the first and after scoffing not one but two jaffa
cakes at the check point we embarked on the infamous loop two. Right off the
bat, loop two was instantly harder and more technical. After crossing the road
from the visitors centre we climbed up a loose steep track but as we got higher
the path got icier. We made it to the top of the climb and followed the sign to
take us down to Esthwaite. We passed a marshall who gave us a forboding
warning, “watch yourselves down there lads, there’s a shit ton of ice.” He
wasn’t kidding and it wasn’t long before one of our party hit the deck.
Thankfully
the at the bottom we came to a section of road which took us past Esthwaite.
The pace picked up again and I started to feel that the pace was a bit beyond
me, but I pushed on with Paul and the rest of the group and soon enough we were
back on the trails heading up the hill on the far side of Esthwaite. As we climbed
I had to give in and let Paul go, he was just too quick for me. I was starting
to feel it, nothing painful thankfully I was just knackered.
I got
chatting with another runner and we stuck together coming off the other side of
the hill down towards the shore of Windermere. We were toing and froing with a
lady who was clearly on a mission, she told us to be careful as we descended
yet another icy slope and she was right to give that warning as we were all
sliding around all over the place no matter how big the lugs on your shoes were
(I very nearly took all three of us out). At the bottom we then hit the
undulating shore path which would take us to the last check point. I decided to
not stop until the last check point which was less than a mile down the road
and over 20 miles into the race.
Pulling
into the check point the lady yelled her number a the marshals and bombed off
into the distance, not stopping for any supplies. I thought, “crickey, someone’s
keen to get home!” One of the marshals then enlightened me that she was in fact
the third lady through, hence the haste in her departure. It was only here that
I began to realise just how good a race I was running. I thought to myself,
well I must be roughly in the top 50 and thought that was pretty good and
merrily went on my way with a smile on my face. The smile was shortly wiped
away when it started to hail, it was bitterly cold and the pinpricks of hail
hitting skin wasn’t exactly welcome.
Another
hill greeted me and the progress was slow, one guy overtook me and I set off in
pursuit but at the top of the hill both calves went into spasm, something I’ve
not experienced before. I only had three miles to go and I wasn’t going to let
this beat me. Thankfully after a few moments I convinced my legs that a slow
jog was a good idea and got into a good rhythm. The hail then turned to heavy
snow and it was quite magical was we returned to the forest although another
uphill section killed my calves again. I got to the top of my hill only to
realise that this wasn’t the last hill but the one before the last one. I
descended as quickly as I could without slipping on the greasy forest undergrowth
before one last horrific pull up. I was utterly done for I just had to power
hike the uphill as quick as I could and get onto the fire roads which would
lead us back to the visitors centre. Four or five people passed me on that last
climb but finally I knew exactly where I was, there was just over a mile back
to the visitors centre where you could hear there was a proper party going on and it was chucking it down, but the snow had turned to
rain and I was soaked and frozen.
When it all
levelled off, I again convinced my legs to run and run as quickly as I could to
try and catch some of those who had got me on the last hill. I rounded a corner
and spotted someone starting the last descent which was a loose icy track that
we had previously gone up in the race. I thought to myself, “That’s my goal, go
for the overtake!” Unfortunately for him I could tell he really wasn’t enjoying
the icy descent so I was gaining on him quite quickly. I knew there was no
threat behind and I knew that I was fairly confident on my feet so tap danced
my way down and caught him just before the bottom of the path. “How much left
of this have we got?”, he asked as I passed, he really wasn’t enjoying it so I
reassured him that the visitors centre was no more than a couple of hundred
yards and sure enough as I was saying that the end of the track came into view
and the gloriously grippy asphalt was under our feet. Filled with adrenaline I
bombed it round the last corner and into the finishing gantry finishing in
4:24.
My
housemate Rob and his girlfriend Flo were waiting for me at the finish after a
few handshakes with the other finishers I went over to them. “Mate, that was
awesome”, said Rob. “You must have been around the top 20.” I didn’t believe
him, and I thought I was just high up in the mid pack but no, he kept telling
me he’d seen most people through and both were adamant that I’d come around the
20th. I thanked them so much for waiting in the horrendous cold rain
and we headed home where I checked and the official position was 21st.
I couldn’t believe it! I was slightly gutted that I didn’t stay with Paul and
the others otherwise I would have come around 15th but still that
result in my first marathon in tricky conditions was a fantastic achievement.
The Montane
Grizedale Trail 26 is a fantastic race, incredibly well organised with a
fantastic atmosphere and cracking course. The course is so good that I now will
often go out and run parts of it in training, the views out towards the
Coniston fells are simply stunning and the terrain is varied from fast fire
roads to loose technical paths to fields – a real mix. I highly recommended
this race whether you choose to do the half or the full you wont be
disappointed. My only advice is that if you are thinking of recceing the
course, the second half is much more technical and demanding than the first so
check that out over the first half and be surprised by the views of the first
half in the race!
Gear that
made the difference:
Salomon ADV
Skin 5 (Pack)
Scott Supertrac
RC Ultra (Shoes)
Injinji
Liner (sock)
Injinji
Ultra (sock)
Montane
Minimus Stretch Ultra (Jacket)
Chia Charge Bars Original and Salted Caramel (Food)
Comments
Post a Comment